It was on my bucket list to go to the 2012 London Olympics and I managed to get tickets to the Men’s Hockey Semi-Final: Germany VS Australia. The other semi-final featured Team GB and the Netherlands, which I tried to switch my ticket for on the day as others tried to switch their own but in the end I watched this match – What a thrilling match it was!

It was on my bucket list to go to the 2012 London Olympics and I managed to get tickets! However, the Triatlon was an unticketed event which meant that anyone could turn up to watch and I discovered this when I was going to see the Changing of the Guard – Very lucky to see both experiences!

With the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics summer games starting today, I thought this would be a good time to have a couple of flashback posts to the London 2012 summer games, which I was very fortunate to attend and live in the country that was hosting this magical, sporting event.

The Mascots

The mascots Wenlock and Mandeville represented the Olympic and Paralympic games respectively, their names and design based in British history and culture.

Wenlock’s name is inspired by Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England, where in 1850 the Wenlock Olympian Society held its first Olympian Games, regarded as an inspiration for the modern Olympic games.

Mandeville is named after the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. In 1948, Stoke Mandeville organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games, considered to be the precursor to the Paralympics. The three spikes on Mandeville’s helmet represent the Paralympic Agitos. He also represents friendship.

During the summer, London placed 83 figures all over the city to promote the games and to encourages locals and tourists alike to explore the city on foot. Each figure was designed to represent the area that it had been placed, as you can see from the images below.

Out of the 83, I only spotted 6 on my travels across the city or maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough!